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Paper and Element organization

Hello all! I'm kind of new to this, as I've only been scrapping exclusively digital for about a year or so. When I started, I didn't know that it would be such a big deal, both personally, and gigabyte wise. I have survived mostly on free kits (and there are a lot of them, thankfully) up until now. When I downloaded them, I kept what I liked, and tossed the rest. Then I put it all in a folder called "Scrapbook". Every now and again, I've tried to organize this mess, renaming some of the files. This is where my problem began. For the past two days, I've been sorting everything back into it's kits (where I haven't changed the names), and have about 2,000 items that are either named "Paper (insert number here)", or Element. I also have some things that when downloaded, they had just some letters and numbers, ex: "BGMultigrid1" I understand that the designer's initials are probably some of the name, and maybe the kit, or hop that it belongs to. The problem is... I've Googled, and Googled, and Googled, to no avail. I've even tried Google images (where you can upload your image, and Google will find similar.) with no luck.

So here's my question. How do you organize your digi scrap supplies, and what do you do with "Homeless" elements and papers? My hope is to group everything by it's kit, with it's original name (if I can find it), and tag it with it's characteristics and Designer's Name. That way, I can determine who my favorite designers are. Then I'll just make a contact sheet (which I deleted when I downloaded the kit, thinking I wouldn't need it.) so instead of scrolling through thousands of items, I'm just scrolling through hundreds of its.

I did the same thing when I first started. I tried a few different things along the way to organize until I found the one that worked the best for me.

The ones I could not figure out/remember who they belonged to I put into one folder.

Then I started a numbered list with each kit and designer. I then added the number of the specific kit to the back of each item name

Ex. (1) . . . . Such and Such Kit . . . . Designer Name

and then rename each paper/element with the kit number

Ex. Small Flower (1)

So whenever I used a piece then I would look up each number and be able to credit the correct designer and kit.

That wasn't working the greatest for me, so I started tagging everything in Bridge, which was great (Except for the incredibly long list of tags), until I had to reformat the hard drive that had bridge on it and all my tags were gone.

Now I just have each kit marked in it's own folder with the name of the Designer and Kit. (ex. Designer Name_Such and Such Kit) In the main folder I have the Preview and TOU and then folders for each thing, like Papers, Elements, Alpha, etc.

I also have a folder of shortcuts of each preview (which I keep the view on pretty large) so if I am looking for a certain type of Element or a specific color or something I just look through there and when I find it, I click "Open File Location" and it takes me right to the kit.

I also have a few folders that are marked by theme, like Christmas, Girly, Boys, Back To School, etc and I keep shortcuts of the previews that coincide with those themes.

As for the folder of "homeless" elements/papers/etc, I will only use those for layouts that I am not going to share online, as I have no way of crediting the designer.

I got some help with identifying some of my "homeless". I asked about this same thing on a forum that is no longer around and someone suggested I post a "Layout" of just a bunch of my "homeless" items grouped by type, like a layout of flowers and then one of frames, etc and people were able to help me identify some of them.

If you would like to do the same thing, I would be happy to try to help, then best I can. You can always email me as well (colormescrappy2011@gmail.com) and I will help the best I can

I also now keep all of my .zip files on another hard drive, just in case something happens, I would hate to have to repurchase all of kits

Thank you, Dawn! I think I've come up with a plan of action. I've got a folder for each kit, with the name of the kit, and the designer. (Snow Day. Debbie Designer) Then, inside, I've got a folder with the Alpha if there is one, also with the kit name and designer. I've got all the supplies in the main folder, named as such: Snow Day. Paper. Debbie Designer. I can rename all the elements at once, so they are :Snow Day. Paper. Debbie Designer (1) and so on. I've found some of the websites that I downloaded the freebies from, and that's helped me find a home for some of the items. As for the rest, we'll see what happens. I'm finding myself a bit ocd about these lately...so they may just go into the recycle bin.

Welcome! there is a 'sticky' thread called Keep it Organized at the top of the forum near the forum guidelines and whatnot that would help you with organization. I'd check there for ideas and programs that will help you bulk rename and whatever else you could possibly need

Trust me, we have all made the same mistake when we first started hoarding... My solution was quite radical; I chucked everything I couldn't immediately identify by a designer name. Now I only download bigger kits and keep them together. I have one folder called "ALL Previews" and I flip through those when I need something. What I didn't throw in the bin, I keep in lots of different folders, like 'hearts&swirls, buttons, ricracs&ribbons etc. But there is lots more of folder-naming ideas in the before-mentioned sticky post. Have fun reorganizing!